The
Transit of Venus over the sun 24th November. It was observed by Jeremiah
Horrox, at Hoole, who has described it in his Venus in Sole Visa. He
communicated his expectation of the circumstance to his friend William
Crabtree, of Broughton, that he also might look out for a phenomenon which
would not recur for more than a century. Crabtree looked, but the sky was
overcast and be was unable to see anything. But a little before sunset, namely,
about thirty-five minutes past three, certainly between thirty and forty minutes
after three, the sun burst forth from behind the clouds. He at once began to
observe, and was gratified by beholding the pleasing spectacle of Venus upon the
sun’s disc. Rapt in contemplation, he stood for some time motionless, scarcely
trusting his own senses through excess of joy. He was born 1610 and baptised
29th June. Re was a “clothier “—apparently a prosperous merchant of the
seventeenth century. He married, in 1633, Elizabeth, daughter of Henry
Pendleton. His mathematical and astronomical attainments were of a very high
order—as is evidenced by his correspondence with Horrox, and by the warm
testimony of Sir Edward Sherburne in his annotations upon Manilius. There
is a translation of Horrox’s Latin discourse on the Transit by the Rev. A. B.
Whatton (London, 1869). A paper by Mr. J. E. Bailey, giving
biographical and bibliographical particulars, appeared In the Palatine
Note­book. vol. ii., p. 253; vol. iii., p. 17.